Green Banking at UCBL

The Green Banking Policy of United Commercial Bank Limited has already been formulated by the ‘Green banking Cell’ and the Board of Directors approved it. In line with the Policy, adequate funds will be allocated in the next budget of the Bank for related activities.

As per the guideline of Bangladesh Bank, a separate policy has been formulated as Environmental Risk Management (ERM) Policy
, aligned with Credit Risk Management Policy. The Board of Directors also approved the ERM Policy. Besides, Formulation of a draft ‘Green Office Guide’ for the purpose of development of In-house Environment Management is at the final stage.

In the meantime, the following activities and programs have been undertaken in compliance with Green Banking Guidelines of Bangladesh Bank:

Variable Refrigerant Flow (VRF) system Air Cooler, lessening around 25% electricity consumption, has been installed at Bank’s Corporate Head Office.

Since the inception of 2011, the Bank has started installing energy efficient bulbs in the newly established Branches.

As an initial initiative of establishing environment friendly Branches, the Bank has introduced solar energy system at Noapara Branch, Chittagong and other Branches will be equipped with the same system phase by phase.

Different divisions of the Bank are disseminating operational guidelines, circulars and Management decisions as well as collecting statements through email reducing use of paper.

The Data Center built inside the Corporate Head Office at Gulshan uses In-Row Precision Air-Cooling System which ensures minimum power consumption to maintain necessary temperature for the Data Centre Equipments.

Number of Application and Database Servers has been consolidated in high capacity Servers which has reduced power consumption.

Managed Rack based Structured Network has been implemented at Data Center. As such required space and dissipated heat is much less compared to traditional Data Centre.

Central UPS (Uninterrupted Power Supply) installed at each floor which reduces total backup power requirement.

CRT (Cathode Ray Tube) Monitor has been replaced by LCD (Liquid Cristal Display) Monitor in all work stations in Head Office which reduces dissipated heat and power requirement for the computer system.

UCB is the pioneer in introduction of Bangladesh Electronic Fund Transfer Network (BEFTN) transaction system which reduces dependency on paper-based transaction.

Sixty numbers of ATM Booths have been installed which reduce operation time and consumption of cheque book.

Bank’s all printers are with double sided printing facility and enabled with ‘Eco-font’.

HR Management software has been installed for generation of salary advice which is reducing manual paperwork.

In-house CIB software has been installed which is allowing Branches to input data as and when required hence complimenting paperless work flow.

In-house MIS software installed for capturing operational data, centralized processing and KPI which has reduced use of paper and saving time and work hour.

The Bank has been giving emphasis on financing eco-friendly business activities and energy efficient industries like Effluent Treatment Plant. The Bank has recently financed Term Loan of Tk.16.85 Crore to establish two brick fields using Hybrid Hoffman Kiln (HHK) technology.

UCB is already providing online banking services to its valued clients through 158 branches. Our valued clients are also using SMS Banking services offered by the Bank.

UCB is on the verge of selecting a robust Core Banking Software (CBS) covering all banking operations including delivery channels as well as Offshore Banking and Islami Banking. With the implementation of CBS, UCB will be equipped to offer more paperless and eco friendly banking services.

To automate work flow, increase operational efficiency and to reduce carbon emission, UCB has also taken the following measures and projects which are underway for implementation of corporate objectives on green banking: